The Employment of Domestic Help and Women’s Labor Force Participation in Western Germany

In contrast to the large body of empirical literature on childcare and women's employment decisions, there is an almost total lack of empirical research on the demand for domestic help. This paper particularly investigates the relationship between the employment of domestic help and the labor force participation of married or cohabiting women in western Germany. The results of a bivariate probit regression indicate that the two decisions are jointly made. Both are found to depend on the minimum amount of housework that is required to maintain the private home, woman's market wage opportunities, and her non-wage income